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Senior Army officer appears in court charged with killing a soldier with a stray bullet 1,000 yards away in a training exercise

Dec 10 2017

  • Ranger Michael Maguire was training when he was shot in the head by a bullet
  • The stray bullet was fired on a munitions range more than 1,000 yards away
  • Two officers and a sergeant appeared in Bulford Military Court yesterday
  • They did not enter a plea concerning their charges in relation to the death

By Fionn Hargreaves For The Daily Mail – Published: 01:43, 9 December 2017

Two senior Army officers and a sergeant have appeared in court relating to the death of a soldier killed by a stray bullet more than 1,000 yards away.

Ranger Michael Maguire, of the 1st Batallion, The Royal Irish Regiment, was taking part in a live ammunitions training exercise when he was fatally struck in the head.

Captain Jonathan Price has been charged with manslaughter, while Colonel Richard Bell and Colour Sergeant Stuart Pankhurst have been charged with negligently performing their duty.

They appeared at Bulford Military Court, Wiltshire, yesterday. On the judge’s instructions, Bell and Pankhurst have yet to enter pleas.

The exercise, at the Castlemartin Training Area in Pembrokeshire in May 2012, involved soldiers firing live rounds at both static and pop-up targets.

Captain Price had been in charge of the drill, while Colonel Bell and Colour Sergeant Pankhurst, handled the health and safety of the exercise

Assistant Judge Advocate General Alan Large said the three would face trial in May next year.

He said:

‘I will not arraign any of you today. We will do this at the next hearing when each of your counsel has had a chance to look at the documents served by the crown.

‘The next hearing in this case will be on January 26, and we will work towards a trial in May.

‘It has been a long time for both the family of the deceased and the defendants and so I hope we have no more delays.’

Ranger Maguire, 21, joined 1st Battalion, The Royal Irish Regiment in May 2010 and had completed a tour of Afghanistan with the troop.

A 2013 inquest found Ranger Maguire, who was 6ft 7in and known as ‘High Tower’, was killed after he had taken off his helmet to eat his lunch.

The soldier was airlifted to a hospital in Cardiff where he was pronounced dead.

It comes after the MOD revealed 139 soldiers have been killed in training exercises since 2000.

The figures showed 13 soldiers have been killed during live fire shooting exercises between 2000 and February 2017.

While 92 Army soldiers died on training, 24 Navy members and 23 people in the RAF also lost their lives.

Last month an inquest was launched over the death of Private Conor McPherson, 24, who was shot in the head on the first day of Exercise Wessex Storm in August 2016.

Private McPherson, of the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland, was killed at the Heely Dod Range at Otterburn, Northumberland.

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